Lawrence Harris, a college adviser at Clarke Central High School in Athens and a member of the Georgia College Advising Corps, a program sponsored by the University of Georgia's Institute of Higher Education and part of the national College Advising Corps, was recognized by President Barack Obama at the White House summit on expanding college access.The National Academy of Inventors named Michael Doyle, University of Georgia Regent's Professor of Food Microbiology and director of UGA's Center for Food Safety, to the 2013 class of NAI Fellows. Doyle joins 143 innovators to receive NAI Fellow status, representing 94 prestigious research universities, governmental and non-profit research institutions.Three UGA Honors students-a record number-were among 80 students nationally who were awarded 2012 Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation Scholarships. The recipients bring the university's total of Udall Scholars to 10 since 2003. This year's winners are Heather Hatzenbuhler, a junior from Lawrenceville; Malavika Rajeev, a junior from Tifton; and Theresa Stratmann, a junior from Irmo, SC.Austin Garner, a senior genetics major and anthropology minor from Douglasville, artificially pollenates mimulus plants as he works on his CURO project in the botany greenhouses. A record 234 UGA students are participating in fall semester research projects. UGA will share the American Football Coaches Association's 2013 Academic Achievement Award. Georgia, Rice, Stanford and Tulane recorded a 100 percent graduation rate for members of its freshman football student-athlete class of 2006.The Gateway to Georgia Scholarship Program is designed to meet the increasing need of students who are academically qualified but have financial circumstances that might otherwise prevent them from pursuing a UGA degree. The scholarship program will help improve access to college and increase retention and graduation rates.The Fanning Institute and UGA partnered with Andrew College in Cuthbert and South Georgia Technical College in Americus to expose students to higher education opportunities through Camp College, a weeklong youth leadership program designed by the University of Georgia Fanning Institute. UGA awarded its first dual master's degrees in social work and public health at commencement ceremonies Dec. 13 in Stegeman Coliseum. The social work and public health dual degree program, established in 2011 through a partnership between the School of Social Work and the College of Public Health, is the first of its kind in Georgia.Victoria Ramenzoni’s academic pursuits have taken her around the world to study and conduct research. The Ph.D. student in environmental anthropology wants to use her education to make an impact on socio-environmental issues. The University of Georgia was ranked 15th among all U.S. institutions in the 2013 Open Doors report on the number of U.S. students studying abroad.Young Dawgs intern Andrew Gallagher compares DNA sequences with UGA assistant professor Kelly Dyer, left, in her genetics lab. Run by UGA Human Resources, Young Dawgs is doing more than capturing the imaginations of high school students and preparing them for future careers. It's also partnering with local school districts and earning awards on the national level.Geert-Jan Boons, Hawkeye Pierce, Francis Collins, David Lee and Jack Kingston discuss UGA's cancer research at a May 2013 meeting with Collins, who is director of the National Institutes of Health. "Georgia is a hotbed of great science," said Collins, who is responsible for managing and coordinating all the programs and activities of the 27 institutes and centers that fall within NIH.Michael Adams, member of UGA's Bioenergy Systems Research Institute, and fellow researchers at UGA have found a way to transform the carbon dioxide trapped in the atmosphere into useful industrial products. Their discovery may soon lead to the creation of biofuels made directly from the carbon dioxide in the air.Through UGA's CLASSroom Project, Stephanie Jones, an associate professor from UGA's College of Education, works with K-12 classroom teachers to identify ways to better interact with and educate students in school settings that include a range of socioeconomic classes. The University of Georgia Costa Rica recently was honored with the 2013 Innovation in Sustainability Award at the NAFSA: Association of International Educators annual conference in St. Louis. The award recognizes institutions, organizations and individuals who are creating initiatives to move the field of international education forward.J. Marshall Shepherd has been appointed the inaugural Athletic Association Professor in the Social Sciences. Shepherd is the director of the UGA Atmospheric Sciences Program and conducts research on weather and climate systems using advanced satellites, experimental aircraft, radars and computer models. In 2012, Shepherd was elected president of the American Meteorological Society.After-school classes are only part of a broad set of programs at UGA that are addressing one of the most pressing threats to Georgians' health and prosperity. While professor of kinesiology, Bryan McCullick, and his colleagues focus on reducing obesity in youth through physical activity, others at UGA are exploring how changes to our lifestyles can create a create a healthier future.Lionel Carreira is the founder and chief executive officer of ARChem, an Athens-based company that provides a unique computational chemical modeling software program used widely in academic, government and industrial laboratories. The software allows researchers to access critical information without ever entering the laboratory, which ultimately provides more experimental freedom for researchers Gregory H. Robinson, Franklin Professor and Distinguished Research Professor of Chemistry, has been appointed the UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor in Chemistry. Dr. Robinson is a chemist whose creativity has challenged conventional thinking on the synthesis of new compounds, his work has the uniquely broad impact that both inspires colleagues around the world and students in the classroom.

2015 State of the University

University of Georgia President Jere W. Morehead delivered the annual State of the University address Jan. 21 at 3:30 p.m. in the UGA Chapel. This year’s address focused on four areas: building a world-class learning environment, expanding the research enterprise, promoting prosperity, and securing the University’s long-term success.

Reaching New Heights

UGA’s mission calls for an ongoing search for knowledge in all fields. Research and inquiry drive the university forward – and improve lives in Georgia and around the world. “To inquire into the nature of things” is the final phrase of the UGA motto and articulates the need for UGA to be engaged in the important issues of the era. A critical component of a world-class research program is recruiting and retaining the best graduate students, which is a focus of the new strategic plan for the year 2020.

Can UGA innovators change the game as water resources tighten and droughts become more extensive? UGA researchers tackle varied aspects of a water-challenged world.
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UGA researchers are testing treatments they hope will stem the tide of obesity and the illnesses that accompany it. Mingming Gao is a postdoctoral fellow and lead author of two groundbreaking studies.
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Great faculty make a great university – and there are many great faculty members at UGA. They are committed to our students, to their research and scholarship and to serving the state of Georgia. There is no factor more important to the future of the University and the pursuit of our goals than recruiting aggressively and retaining a world-class faculty. That matters to UGA because it will help us accomplish the goal of becoming one of America’s premier public universities, but it also matters to Georgia, because the state benefits from the faculty’s work with UGA students.

At the University of Georgia, the Center for Undergraduate Research (CURO) facilitates opportunities for undergraduate students to pursue research with premiere research faculty.
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The University of Georgia Foundation is proud to fund approximately 150 chairs and professorships across a wide variety of departments and disciplines at the university.
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There is no UGA without students, and students must be at the heart of all that UGA does. All that we do must accrue to the benefit of UGA’s students, and therefore to the state of Georgia. We prepare leaders for the future, we train future entrepreneurs who will build the businesses of tomorrow, we educate our future teachers, and we show our students how to become productive and successful researchers. This is what we are about and why UGA was established in 1785 as America’s first state-chartered university.

The University of Georgia offers its students over 100 faculty-led study abroad group programs in addition to exchange programs.
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More than 90 percent of incoming students enroll in a First-Year Odyssey seminar, a program offering new students an understanding for the mission of the university.
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A strong and vibrant Georgia is good for the University of Georgia, and UGA will support the state's economic development efforts. A newly opened office in Atlanta will provide a closer link with the business sector and the Georgia Department of Economic Development. The Atlanta office also will make the considerable resources of the university more accessible for communities, development authorities and Chambers of Commerce. The organization will take full advantage of the scientific, technology commercialization and tech-based business startup assets as well as the economic development expertise of the university to help strengthen Georgia's economy.

UGA’s Public Service and Outreach programs have an estimated annual economic impact on the state of $343.5 million and support 4,417 jobs annually.
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UGA has 17 Small Business Development Center offices around the state, seven of them in collaboration with other USG institutions. In 2012, SBDC helped create approximately 1,747 jobs through the bus
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$M Return on Investment

for a UGA bachelor's degree. The return on investment for a UGA graduate degree is $2.7M for a master's degree and $3.7M for a doctorate.

$B Annual Salary Contribution

The 156,078 UGA alumni living in Georgia contribute $10,454,767,357 in annual salary to the Georgia economy.

$M Research expenditures

UGA spent some $245 million dollars on research last year. Over half of that was funded by federal agencies.

$M Scholars and awards

UGA awarded more than $4.5 million in scholarships and awards from University Foundation funds to undergraduate students. Approximately 13% of the new first-year students enrolling in 2011 received an academic scholarship.